stories of a Town – Gilbert, Arizona

Monthly Archives: February 2013

Many of you have been following my Manager Updates on my Town Manager blog. I enjoy connecting with you all and am always looking for new opportunities to interact, share and build new relationships. In an effort to connect on a more personal level, and to align with our focus to engage citizens and staff through digital communications, my Manager Updates will be moving to a video format for the majority of the time, but there may be an occasional written update.

Our new series of video entries will be called “On the Job” and will highlight projects, meetings and accomplishments and will focus on my interactions with staff, out in our community and with our many partners. Not only will this allow for an inside look at a day in the life of the Town Manager but this will allow me to showcase all of the great work we are doing together here in Gilbert.

You will get an opportunity to see me interact with staff, attend meetings, give updates on projects, and explain some of the different services we provide here at the town.

These “On the Job” video updates will still be posted on my Town Manager’s blog and on SPAdmin but will also be featured on our various social media channels, allowing us to reach and engage a much larger audience.

You can also watch our other recent videos featuring the launch of our first mobile applications contest, SPARK App League, and our new One-Stop-Shop in Development Services. And please follow us, “like” us and connect with Gilbert as we continue our focus on being a leader in digital government.

Last week, Mayor John Lewis hosted and premiered the very first digital state of the town. The 22-minute video, produced by the Gilbert Digital Team, features council members, business leaders, and other members of our community, while highlighting the town’s many accomplishments in 2012. Not only does the digital format of this presentation allow for a broader audience to be reached but it also shows viewers all that our incredible community has to offer. If you have not seen the digital State of the Town, I encourage you to watch it at www.gilbertaz.gov/stateofthetown.

Since the inception of the Gilbert Digital Team, they have made significant progress in making Gilbert a leader in digital government, setting a standard here in Arizona and nationally. The team has produced over 30 short and long format videos, changing the way Gilbert news is shared. They’ve also made a huge impact on Gilbert’s social media presence and are now actively using Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, WordPress and YouTube to share Town information and connect on a personal level with residents.

They’ve started an initiative called SMART (Social Media Advisory and Research Taskforce) to connect local businesses and organizations that are active in social media. This group meets quarterly to discuss social media trends and exchange ideas, helping to make the vastly changing social media world more manageable.

In addition, next week Gilbert is partnering with ASU’s College Of Technology and Innovation to launch SPARK App League, the first high school mobile applications contest in Arizona. SPARK is an acronym for “Schools Participate in Application Resource and Knowledge” and will give high school students from across Arizona the opportunity to create innovative apps that will be used by the Town of Gilbert. Find out more information about this program at www.sparkappleague.com and stay tuned as the winners of this competition will be announced in May.

These are just a few of the key initiatives we are focusing on to make Gilbert a leader in digital government. To find out more about what you can expect to see from the Gilbert Digital Team in the future, check out Gilbert’s Digital Roadmap.